The site of Nazareth itself is admirable; and in the days when the land was fully 
peopled, when property was comparatively secure, as it was under the Roman authority, 
and when men dwelt “ under their own vine and under their own fig-tree,” the valley of 
Nazareth may have been one of the loveliest spots in Palestine,—a scene, whose luxuriance 
and retirement, the expanse of the noble Lake of Tiberias, and the grandeur of the moun¬ 
tain landscape, rendered it not unsuited to the earthly dwelling of our Lord. It is a 
circular basin, encompassed by mountains. Richardson describes it, “ as if fifteen moun¬ 
tains met to form an enclosure for this delightful spot; they rise round it, like the edge of 
a shell, to guard it from intrusion. It is a rich and beautiful field in the midst of barren 
hills; it abounds in fig-trees, small gardens, and hedges of the prickly pear; and the dense 
rich grass affords an abundant pasture.” The village stands on the slope of the west side 
of the valley; the Convent at the east end, on high ground. In the village there is but 
one Mosque, which, however, forms a prominent feature in the View. 
THE SHRINE OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 
Beneath the Church of the Annunciation, and entered by a few steps descending in the 
rear of the High Altar, is a Grotto, with a marble Altar, lighted by silver lamps, the gifts 
of princes, and which are kept continually burning. The Altar is pronounced to stand on 
the exact spot where the Annunciation took place, according to the Latins, who establish 
their true place by a miracle. In the Grotto are two pillars, said to have been erected by 
the Empress Helena, in consequence of a dream, in which the real places were revealed to 
her, where the Virgin stood, and where the angel gave the Salutation. One of these 
pillars has been broken, the act of a Turk, a Pasha, looking for treasure, who was instantly 
punished with blindness for the desecration. But though the column is separated, about 
eighteen inches from the ground, the upper portion is still erect, miraculously sustained, as 
the Monks assert; but Dr. Clarke detected that the capital and shaft of grey granite are 
fastened to the roof of the Grotto; and, unluckily for the honest reputation of the pillar, he 
observed also, that the portion which rested on the ground is not granite, but Cipolino 
marble. However, the celebrity of those pillars is so widely extended, that devotees from 
all parts of Galilee rub themselves reverentially against them, and believe the act a remedy 
for all diseases. 
Tradition relates, that in this Grotto Mary lived, and over it, according to the same 
authority, once stood the Holy House, which, when in danger of Mahometan spoliation, was 
carried through the air by angels, in 1291, to Dalmatia, thence in 1294 to Recanati in 
Italy, and finally, in 1295, was deposited at Loretto, where it is now so well known, as the 
Santa Casa. 1 The Altar is raised under the half-natural, half-artificial, arch of the rock, 
against which the Holy House was supposed to lean. Behind this arch are two dark 
recesses, presumed to be primitive apartments. Why the Virgin should have lived under¬ 
ground, is not accounted for by the tradition. 
1 Quavesm. ii. 834. 
